The Deuteronomistic History and the Name Theology: lᵉšakkēn šᵉmô šām in the Bible and the Ancient Near East

This monograph is a comparative, socio-linguistic reassessment of the Deuteronomic idiom, lᵉšakkēn šᵉmô šām, and its synonymous biblical reflexes in the Deuteronomistic History, lāśûm šᵉmô šām, and lihyôṯ šᵉmô šām. These particular formulae have long been understood as evidence of the Name Theology - the evolution in Israelite religion toward a more abstracted mode of divine presence in the temple. Utilizing epigraphic material gathered from Mesopotamian and Levantine contexts, this study demonstrates that lᵉšakkēn šᵉmô šām and lāśûm šᵉmô šām are loan-adaptations of Akkadian šuma šakānu, an idiom common to the royal monumental tradition of Mesopotamia. The resulting retranslation and reinterpretation of the biblical idiom profoundly impacts the classic formulation of the Name Theology.